As described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,792,169 issued Aug. 11, 1998 to the applicant herein, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, a hair graft transplantation device has been developed wherein a supply of harvested hair grafts are retained in a cartridge. During the transplantation, the grafts are moved from the cartridge into a dilated graft site. In that a supply of grafts is provided by the cartridge, the grafting procedure time is shortened and a greater number of grafts can transplanted in a session.
Th cartridge includes a number of openings each adapted to hold a hair graft. Heretofore, I loaded the grafts into their individual openings by using forceps to insert the graft and push them into the opening to nest therein. This procedure is time consuming. There is a need for a device and method to increase the rate at which the grafts can be loaded into the cartridge. Increasing the speed will not only save time but reduce the time the grafts are exposed to the environment decreasing the risk of infection and loss of viability of the graft.